Learning Exchange Trips & Speaker Series
Yspaniola is proud to offer various engaging experiential learning opportunities, including meeting with people from Batey Libertad, participating in community-led service projects, and learning about the complexities of Dominican-Haitian history and culture.

Virtual Cultural/ Historical Presentations
During 1 hour virtual sessions led by Yspaniola staff and community members, reflect on the following themes with your group:
- The political situation, geography, national history, and demographics of the Dominican Republic
- Discovering Dominican Culture: dance, music and cuisine
- Introduction to the Batey: An Examination of Migration Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic
- Yspaniola’s Work and Education in the Dominican Republic
Learning Exchange Trips
Spend 7 days (6 nights) discovering the Dominican Republic:
- Immerse yourself in the culture of Batey Libertad by staying with local families for 3 nights
- Get to know other young people in the community through both formal and casual community events
- Visit other human rights-focused nonprofits
- Reflect on the social issues and challenges faced by community members
- Visit the beautiful beaches and eco-reserves of the Dominican Republic
In addition to our learning exchange trips, Yspaniola hosts shorter visits with groups interested in visiting Batey Libertad and learning about our programs here. These visits include similar engagement with community members and Learning Center students. Yspaniola has hosted many visitors, and we would love to host you too!
Since 2005, Yspaniola has been hosting student trips to Batey Libertad and the Dominican Republic. Guided by experienced Yspaniola staff, undergraduate and high school students tour the country, visit the Haitian-Dominican border, meet with human rights activists, live with host families in Batey Libertad, and support our work through fundraising and service activities. Past service projects have included creating resources for our Learning Center, mural and library painting, reading hour, and cultural exchanges with community members. Our experiential learning model is centered on education and solidarity; we aim to show students from different parts of the world that their lives are intricately connected to people seemingly a world away.
Yspaniola supports four to six Service-Learning trips a year and has worked with many university partners, including Yale University, Brown University, the University of Virginia, the University of Delaware, the University of Rhode Island, St. Johns University, and the Monterrey Institute of Technology and High Education in Mexico. In addition, Yspaniola has hosted a group of high school students from Lincoln Sudbury High School in Massachusetts. We have also hosted non-student groups such as doctors, nurses, and community healthcare workers from Brookside Community Health Center, who have visited multiple times to learn more about Dominican healthcare practices, particularly in Baní. In 2019, Yspaniola hosted our first-ever Yale Alumni Service Corps (YASC) trip with 50 participants!
Yspaniola’s Learning Exchange Trips primarily focus on offering student groups the opportunity to discover the Dominican Republic and gain a deeper understanding of the complex migration situation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Furthermore, we understand that each visiting group comes to Yspaniola with different visions for their time in Batey Libertad, so we work hard to personalize each itinerary to best suit each group’s interests and goals.
We provide student groups with a tailored pre-departure curriculum consisting of articles, books, and videos about Dominican history, Dominican-Haitian relations, international development, and volunteerism. This curriculum allows students to become aware of the historical and cultural significance of the sites they visit on Yspaniola trips and better contextualize what life is like in Batey Libertad.
In addition to traveling across the Dominican Republic, students will spend some time living with homestay families in Batey Libertad. They will also engage with local youth, Learning Center students, and community leaders in discussions about community development, race, education, and human rights in the Dominican Republic.
View and download our Experiential and Service-Learning Trips Brochure here.
If you want to lead a trip or get your university involved, please contact us at info@yspaniola.org.
Many thanks to the universities that have supported and participated in Experiential and Service-Learning trips with Yspaniola, including:












